I’m in a bit of a reading slump at the moment, so I’m pulling an old library display out from the files.

Last year, it was the 100th anniversary of Nellie Bly’s historic trip around the world, an attempt to beat Jules Verne’s fictional 80-mark. It’s a fascinating story, and I definitely recommend Matthew Goodman’s book, Eighty Days, for teens and adults who are interested in finding out more about Bly, her competitor Elizabeth Bisland, and the race. So far the race, I made a display focusing on books about different places around the world, as well as travelers and Nellie Bly herself. The idea could easily be adapted for a general travel display, or for a display focusing on a specific country or state.

I was lucky enough to find an old atlas that had been discarded, from which I took a page to make the background for my display. I believe it was actually a map of Alaska, which is kind of fun.

The font I used for this display was Matura, not a font I normally gravitate towards, but it seemed to fit the image I was trying to create. So once again sacrificing personal taste in the interest of making a display (remember the fairy wings?) I went with it. I wish, in retrospect, that I had manged to cut out the lettering in a more professional-looking way, but oh well.

And here’s a view with all of the books. I tried to find things that looked interesting and more modern than the kind of straight non-fiction informational books about countries and so on. There are also lots of different books about travelers and journeys as you can see.

Books about Nellie Bly, travelers, etc
Bylines: A Photobiography of Nellie Bly by Sue Macy
Around the World by Matt Phelan
Miranda the Explorer by James Mayhew
Journey by Aaron Becker
The Adventures of Odysseus by Hugh Lupton
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
Around the World in 100 Days by Gary Blackwood